


To Be Kitten-Struck

by Rellanka



Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [46]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Cat adoption, Fluff, M/M, Mild Cloud/Chaos, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24672346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rellanka/pseuds/Rellanka
Summary: Cloud wasn't expecting the kitten, but he chose to save it anyway. Doing so brings about a different change; one that's been a long time coming. One that he's wanted to happen for a long time.
Relationships: Cloud Strife/Vincent Valentine
Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [46]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697269
Comments: 6
Kudos: 212





	To Be Kitten-Struck

It was really a tiny, pathetic little thing, and in the darkness of the night with only a few streetlights shining, Cloud probably wouldn’t have noticed it had Vincent not stopped and been staring down at its hiding place. 

As it was, it still took Cloud a few seconds to spot it with its coat being so dirty with the grit and dirt that surrounded it. In fact, it was only when it let out another weak, tiny sounding mew that Cloud’s eyes caught sight of the flash of the pink inside of its mouth, and was able to connect that with the rest of the tiny kitten, crouched small and shivering under some sort of metal shelving. Cloud wasn’t surprised that it was shivering, cold as it was. But he was surprised, and definitely concerned, that it seemed to be completely alone. 

He walked over to Vincent and crouched down in a silence equal to the man’s, reaching down and laying his hand flat with his palm upturned on the ground under the shelves. At first his efforts earned him only a tiny hiss and the there-and-then-gone pain of needle-like claws striking his finger. But as the minutes passed by and Cloud didn’t do anything more, the kitten began to get curious. After a few minutes of ticklish sensations as the kitten sniffed and nudged at his hand with a tiny nose, the kitten climbed into his hand and curled up in the new warm place it had found. 

Quickly, before the kitten had a chance to jump out of his hand, Cloud curled his fingers slightly and brought his hand out and to his chest. 

The kitten froze for a second at the moment, tiny pinpricks of its claws, too small to even hurt, digging into Cloud’s hand as its body tensed and its heart jack rabbited in its chest hard enough for Cloud to feel. It was only when Cloud ran a finger gently over its head that it started to relax, purring frantically either because the movement reminded it of its mother, or because of some latent survival instinct that made it think being friendly was more likely to ensure its survival. 

Cloud smiled down at it, already charmed despite himself by the tiny, scrappy little thing as it kept its claws dug into as much of its hand as it could while still purring fiercely. Trying to endear itself while also being ready for a fight. His faith that the kitten would manage to survive if it had some help increased exponentially. 

Vincent finally moved, and knelt down beside him to study the kitten in his palm. 

“It’s very young.” Vincent said quietly.

“Yeah,” Cloud agreed, “Too young to have been weaned from its mother.” 

He would put the kitten at around four weeks, maybe a little younger. He couldn’t be sure about the age because it looked a little malnourished, so that was only a guess. It was definitely too young to be out here alone. 

Cloud cocked his head to the side, trying to listen for sounds of its mother, or at least its litter mates. But as he suspected, no sounds reached him. From his experience, if one kitten was crying, the other kittens that were capable of it were usually crying, too. 

And for this kitten to be as cold and alone as it was…

“The weaker monsters that were accompanying the stronger ones we fought today might have considered a cat a good meal.” Vincent pointed out.

Cloud had just been thinking the same thing, and his heart abruptly ached fiercely again for this small, scrappy little thing. He knew abruptly that he wasn’t going to be able to just abandon it. 

“Vincent.” He said softly, an idea hitting him that he wasn’t sure would work, but that he was willing to try for the kitten’s safety, “Do you think Chaos would let you take it back? To Seventh Heaven, I mean. Flying would probably be a lot safer and smoother than using my bike.” 

He just hoped that Chaos wasn’t too insulted by the idea of being regulated to kitten transport. 

Vincent went still beside him, eyes widening and sending Cloud a look of uncharacteristic shock. But after a moment, his expression grew thoughtful, and he said slowly, “He doesn’t seem all that opposed, but…” and his expression changed as his eyes began burning gold. 

Chaos was coming out to answer the question personally. 

Cloud waited patiently until the transformation finished. After the events concerning Deepground, Chaos and Vincent had struck a deal, of sorts. They were more like partners of a shared body then a man and his demon nowadays. It had been strange and shocking to see Chaos so casually taking control of Vincent’s body at first; but after finding out that it was done with Vincent’s permission, Cloud had grown familiar with and even fond of the demon. Almost as much as he was of Vincent. 

But he tried not to think about that. 

When the transformation was complete, Chaos was regarding Cloud with fierce, knowing eyes, a dark smirk present on his face. 

“Well, this is an unexpected request. Tell me, darling Storm: would you truly trust me with a life so fragile?” Chaos asked, face almost amused. 

It was a simple enough question. But there was something behind the amusement, something intense, that made Cloud feel like how he answered was more important than he knew. 

That was okay, though. 

Cloud already had his answer, and he was fairly certain that it was the correct one. 

“Yeah.” He said without hesitation, meeting Chaos’ eyes firmly, “I’d trust you with this kitten’s life. I’d trust you with mine, if it ever came to that.” 

Like Vincent sometimes did, when he was feeling especially emotional and doing everything he could to hide it, Chaos went still and then rumbled deeply, the sound closer to the sounds the kitten was making than anything approaching a growl. 

“You make me want to do you this favor without asking for one in return.” Chaos said. “But I will ask for one, even so. This favor is an uncommon one, after all.” 

Cloud considered the demon for a moment. It wasn’t an unfair request, and Cloud trusted him not to use it to hurt Cloud or someone he cared about. 

Others, on the other hand…

“As long as you don’t ask me to hurt anyone, even our enemies more than necessary, you have it. Anything else you want.” Cloud replied finally.

Chaos’ eyes glowed in the darkness, the brightness turning up several notches at Cloud’s words. 

“That is a dangerous thing to offer me, dear Storm. You may want to guard your words more fiercely. Especially with beings like me.” Chaos purred. 

Cloud shrugged. 

“I trust you.” He repeated, and Chaos’ lips curved into a smile.

“If you knew everything I wish to do to you, you would perhaps not.” The demon said, “But that is a matter for another time. For now, give me that tiny being that you so wish for me to protect. I will see it safely to your home for you.”

Cloud wasn’t… entirely sure what to make of the first part on Chaos’ statement, but he was willing to get clarification on it later. For now, he nodded and walked over to his bike, getting one of the bike bags detached and all set up for the kitten with the spare clean cloths he had stashed for cleaning the bike later. It wasn’t the best set up, but it was the best Cloud could do at the current time and was hopefully good enough. 

“Hold it as close to your body as you can so some heat can leach over.” He instructed softly after gently detaching the kitten and placing in its new carrier. “Thank you for this, Chaos.” 

“It is _truly_ my pleasure.” The demon murmured, his voice full of suggestive undertone, as it was sometimes, when addressing Cloud. 

And then Chaos was gone, spreading his wings and taking to the sky. Cloud paused, just staring after what he could see of the demon until the darkness of the night erased Chaos from sight. Then he shook his head and mounted his bike, kicking it into gear so that he could get back to Seventh Heaven as soon as possible.

He sped maybe more than he should have on the way home. But the kitten was so tiny, and neither Chaos nor Vincent knew where the formula for it was. Maybe Cloud should have told Chaos that Marlene had a stock of old formula in the counter by the fridge? It was from when she had helped take care of a batch of kittens after finding them abandoned one day. Cloud was suddenly fiercely glad that they had kept the excess that they hadn’t needed to use. He just hoped that it was a type of formula that didn’t spoil quickly. 

He would have to find alternatives himself, if it had. Tifa was away, taking both Marlene and Denzel up on a visit to Barret and his oil fields. Tifa had a friend that was coming by daily to run the bar while she was gone, but… Cloud couldn’t bother Alara for something like this. 

He guessed that the kitten was purely his responsibility. 

It was a bit of a scary thought. 

But… maybe not as scary as it might have been, once. When Cloud was in his darkest days. Back before his friends had helped wrest him from that darkness, and Vincent and he had started spending a lot more time together. 

By the time he’d gotten to the bar, both Vincent and the kitten were in the kitchen, Chaos presumably giving Vincent back control sometime after landing. 

The kitten was out of the bag but carefully wrapped in the cloth from the bag, and held closely to Vincent’s chest. A cup with something in it was resting on the kitchen table, an opened bottle of dry kitten formula resting not far from it. Vincent was rummaging in the cabinets, frowning as he looked for something. 

Cloud coughed lightly to inform Vincent of his presence, and the man turned to acknowledge his presence. 

“I called Tifa to ask about something to eat for it.” Vincent explained, “But I didn’t think to ask about any sort of bottle, and they weren’t with the formula.” 

Well, Cloud had apparently had nothing to worry about. Vincent obviously had this well-handled. 

“Tifa’s a little particular about where things are put sometimes.” Cloud explained, opening the door to the cabinet that contained their glasses and removing the small bottles from their designated spot. 

“Ah.” Vincent replied, and stood there still holding the kitten and watching as Cloud carefully transferred some of the formula over to the bottle, and after putting on the bottle’s nipple, he approached Vincent. 

“It might be easier,” Cloud began carefully, the air between he and Vincent charged with- something as Cloud got closer and closer to the man; much closer then he usually dared to be when they were standing right in front of one another. With someone else, their positions likely wouldn’t have been anything to think of twice. With Vincent, things were a little more… difficult to define. “If you hold her while I feed her. If that’s okay.” 

Vincent looked a little tense, and Cloud didn’t blame him. Cloud was affected by whatever it was between them, too. He always was. But he still hoped that Vincent said yes. 

When Vincent finally acquiesced with a nod, Cloud carefully nudged the kitten’s nose with the nipple, getting a little of the formula on the nose so that the kitten could smell it. 

That was all it took for the kitten to latch on and start sucking fiercely. Cloud felt warm and soft inside as he watched the kitten eat, its purrs, having quieted for a moment, once again kicking into high gear. It was a hungry little thing, and probably hadn’t eaten for a while. Cloud figured that its weight was maybe 8 or 10 ounces, and he was planning on getting it another bottle when something made him look up into Vincent’s eyes. 

Cloud’s breath caught in his throat. He’d never seen Vincent **look** like that. At **anything**. His expression wasn’t closed, as it usually was. Instead, he was staring at Cloud with the fiercest look of affection, and adoration, and longing, and want, and **love** that Cloud had ever seen. 

Vincent knew that he’d been caught. His expression went from completely open to completely closed in the time it took Cloud to blink, and in the next heartbeat Vincent’s eyes were turned away from him. He opened his mouth, presumably to lie about what Cloud had just seen, when Cloud raised his hand to cup Vincent’s cheek and move his eyes back to Cloud’s own. He let Vincent see everything, all of Cloud’s own adoration and desire and desperate, hopeless love. He let Vincent see how Cloud looked at him when Vincent wasn’t looking. 

Vincent wasn’t a stupid man. He could read Cloud as easily as Cloud had just read him. His eyes grew soft and warm and happy, an expression that tragically Cloud had also never seen on Vincent before. He started to lean down, and Cloud began to rise to meet him…

When the kitten finished its first bottle and started crying out strongly for a second in high-pitched meeps. 

Cloud laughed out loud, he couldn’t not. Slumping slightly and resting his head on Vincent’s chest to the side of the kitten, he could feel as well as hear when Vincent joined in on his laughter. 

“I guess we have some other priorities that need to be taken care of first before we can take care of anything else.” Cloud said almost playfully, breaking the charged silence a little nervously as he took the bottle away from the kitten and moved to the table to fill it again.

Cloud **was** nervous, but he was happy, too. Almost giddy with it, in fact. 

Vincent hummed in agreement behind him. 

“It does seem rather insistent that we do prioritize it at the moment. But later, Cloud…” 

Cloud nodded as he filled the bottle. 

“Later.” He agreed. 

When he was done, Cloud turned and took stock of the sight in front of him. At the man that might just be his, now, and the kitten in his arms that might just be **theirs**. 

Their relationship was just a few minutes old, but it already seemed off to a pretty great start.

**Author's Note:**

> Look. If anything would be able to get these two together after a lot of angsty pining, it would definitely be the sight of Vincent cradling a tiny kitten in his arms and the sight of Cloud feeding said tiny kitten while it was cradled in Vincent’s arms. Because I’m telling you now, if you think anyone would be able to resist the sight of those things, you’re wrong. You are so very, very wrong. Something was going to break, and it might as well have been these two lovable idiots self-restraint.


End file.
